THE Commission's recommendation that all 80 members of a legislative Assembly should be elected by the system of STV (Single Transferable Vote) will be resisted by many in the Labour Party.

THE Commission's recommendation that all 80 members of a legislative Assembly should be elected by the system of STV (Single Transferable Vote) will be resisted by many in the Labour Party.

Designed to achieve a better correlation between the number of votes cast for a party and the proportion of seats it wins, STV operates in multi-member constituencies.

Currently used in elections in both parts of Ireland, STV allows voters to list candidates in order of preference. The candidate receiving least support has his or her votes redistributed to "second preference" rivals. An exhaustive redistribution of votes takes place until the required number of candidates is elected.

Opponents say it pitches candidates from the same party against each other, although to others that is seen as a virtue.

STV makes it much more difficult for a single party to gain overall control.